Sunday, December 28, 2014

SuperPhillip Central Best of 2014 Awards - Top Five Local Multiplayer Games

I'm a dinosaur. Perhaps I've turned into an old man who yells at clouds. What I mean by this is that while you young, hip kids are playing your Playbox 720's with your Call of Madden and Grand Theft Assassins online, I prefer a local couch multiplayer game rather than online. It's more intimate, it's more exciting to me, and I just prefer it. Now, one isn't technically better than the other, but to me, it's clear as day. That's why I thought it'd be fair to change looking at all multiplayer games this year to just the ones I enjoyed most locally with friends or family.

5) Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)

Golf isn't the most exciting sport around, but when you throw in wacky courses, characters, and options like Mario Golf: World Tour did, and bring some friends along to compete in real time or taking turns via match play, then you'll got a really game on your hands (or is it in your hands?). Just beating out Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the number five spot, Mario Golf: World Tour's excellent multiplayer options gave it an eagle while Tropical Freeze scored a birdie, to use some golfing lingo!

4) LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4, PS3)

LittleBigPlanet is one of my favorite Sony franchises, and for good reason, too! It's consistently great, offers a host of creation options, and it's really fun for multiplayer. A friend and I were able to play various adventure mode levels, but the fun really didn't start being a blast until we started jumping into random creator levels made by the community. Jumping and swinging, and slapping, and laughing-- LittleBigPlanet 3 had us in stitches. Had Sackboy in stitches, as well-- literally!

3) Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)

We have a gaming club at the college I attend, and before its big brother was released on Wii U, the Nintendo 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. was a popular game among most of us-- and that isn't some paltry amount of players! While not sharing a screen like the home console versions did not build the same sense of excitement and camaraderie between us, Super Smash Bros. in a bite-size, handheld form was great for multiplayer sessions for some offline fun!

2) Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

A grand feature returned to this edition of Mario Kart, and it was the ability to play the Grand Prix mode with a friend. This feature had been cut out of most every Mario Kart game since the star rank grading system was implemented in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. It added to the manic Mario Kart mayhem that my brother and I had, making it a great Mario Kart game turned excellent.

1) Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)

The Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. brought with it things I've been wanting for a long time with the series. The biggest being multiplayer for Classic and All-Star modes. Beyond being able to enjoy those modes with my brother, it allowed us to have fun skirmishes with and against one another, as well as several nights where I played locally with a group of friends. It was the multiplayer game on many occasions, and it's why I choose Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as my number one multiplayer game of 2014.

See you tomorrow for the Top Five Biggest Surprises and Top Five Best Downloadable Games on SuperPhillip Central's continuing coverage of the Best of 2014!